104 College & Research Libraries January 2013

artisan activities of cataloging, classify-
ing, and creating authorized headings” 
in light of the need for experts who can 
effectively navigate the quickly changing 
information environment that interdis-
ciplinary work generates and requires. 
Continuing the conversation of the role of 
technical services, Gretchen E. Reynolds, 
Cynthia Holt, and John C. Walsh (Chap-
ter 5) report the findings of their survey 
of academic librarians’ perspectives on 
interdisciplinarity and the effects it has 
had on collection development, including 
a case study conducted at George Mason 
University Libraries. Dan Hazan (Chapter 
6) takes a brief step back in time to exam-
ine the rise of area studies, a forerunner 
to interdisciplinary studies that shares 
many of its origins, challenges, and needs. 
In Chapter 7, Mark Dahl scans a number 
of digital collections, emphasizing the 
various technological, creative, and infor-
mational needs that digital scholarship re-
quires, and highlights the potential role of 
the library in fulfilling these needs. Evelyn 
Ehrlich and Angela Carreño (Chapter 8) 
focus on the role of the subject librarian 
and outline what they see as two distinct 
phases of effects originating from the in-
terdisciplinary turn in higher education. 
Notably, they conclude with an appendix 
of ideas for how subject librarians can 
leverage library services toward the ends 
of interdisciplinary work. In Chapter 
9, Maralyn Jones succinctly defines her 
chapter as an answer to librarians asking 
themselves, “How should I teach inter-
disciplinary research to maximize criti-
cal thinking and information literacy?” 
Jones provides a list of resources, tools, 
and tips for librarians seeking to educate 
themselves in interdisciplinary methods. 
Finally, Johann van Reenan and Kevin 
J. Comerford (Chapter 10) conclude the 
main body of essays with a look at specific 
interdisciplinary centers, collaborative 
data initiatives, and centers of excellence 
and the role of the library in each.

Craig Gibson brings all these chapters 
to a close by examining trends within the 
academy and outlining six possible char-

acteristics of its future. As he and other 
authors in this volume have noted, the 
future of higher education and the effects 
that interdisciplinary work will bring 
about are far from certain, but the library 
can begin the work of laying the founda-
tion for what will certainly be a change in 
the view of knowledge itself. As Gibson 
notes: “If the library can demonstrate that 
how it organizes itself and its services 
makes a difference in addressing [big 
challenges], it will become the essential 
partner that its strategic plan advocates.” 
Interdisciplinarity and Academic Libraries is 
a volume created for those librarians and 
library leaders who seek to strategically 
shift the role of the academic library and 
recenter it as the heart of the research 
institution.—John M. Jackson, University 
of Southern California.

John Buschman. Libraries, Classrooms, and 
the Interests of Democracy: Marking the 
Limits of Neoliberalism. Lanham, Md.: 
Scarecrow Press, 2012. 239p. acid-free 
paper, $65 (ISBN 9780810885288). LC 
2012-010128.

Should library marketing and advertising 
be allowed in educational institutions or 
classrooms, and do policies grounded in 
the current political paradigm of neolib-
eralism advance the mission of libraries 
and democracy? These are the guiding 
questions that frame John Buschman’s 
book, Libraries, Classrooms, and the Interests 
of Democracy: Marking the Limits of Neo-
liberalism. Neoliberalism, as Buschman 
quotes David Harvey (2007), is defined 
as the advancement of humanity “by the 
maximization of entrepreneurial free-
doms within an institutional framework 
characterized by private property rights, 
individual liberty, unencumbered mar-
kets, and free trade.” The author describes 
this book as an “extended meditation 
on the historical roots and connections 
between our educative institutions and 
democracy, on the entanglements of those 
institutions with commerce—and its most 
recent neoliberal instantiations, and on 
a selected set of resources within demo-



Book Reviews 105

cratic theory which has helped reflect 
on the… tensions among marketing, ad-
vertising, consumption, and democracy 
through the institutional venues of the 
school and the library.” 

The book is written in a style of a 
“dialogic process of clarification” or guid-
ing questions that many times have no 
answer and is organized into two parts. 
Each part is composed of four chapters, 
and each chapter contains a notes section. 
The book also includes a comprehensive 
list of cited sources and an index. The first 
part of the book examines the historical 
relationship between marketing and ad-
vertisement in educational institutions 
and libraries. Topics covered include 
an analysis of the relationship between 
politics and educational institutions, role 
of advertising and marketing in Ameri-
can libraries and classrooms in the era 
of neoliberalism, and multidisciplinary 
analysis of marketing and advertising 
on the business practices of educational 
institutions. The second part covers an 
analysis of neoliberalism by examining 
democratic theories proffered by de Toc-
queville, Dewey, Habermas, Marx, and 
other noted theorists. “Communitarian-
ism,” a theory that emphasizes the role 
of community as the center of social and 
political identity, is discussed. The author 
also analyzes deliberative or discursive 
democratic theory that emphasizes the 
role of moral justification, reciprocity, 
and public reasons on the common good. 

Of particular interest, the final chapter 
examines recent Supreme Court decisions 
concerning freedom of speech and the po-
tential impact on educational institutions. 
The author also analyzes the evolving 
legal interpretations and social ramifica-
tions of these rulings. He suggests that 
these rulings reflect the trend of further 
loosening of restrictions on “corporate 
and market speech.” He also states that 
this movement will result in additional 
“influence in public educative institutions 
and in the democratic process.” 

Throughout, the book emphasizes 
the political influences of marketing 
and advertising on public educational 
institutions such as libraries, with the 
subsequent impact on democracy and 
democratic values. This work provides 
keen observations, provocative ques-
tions, and intriguing analyses regarding 
the influence of neoliberal politics on 
educational institutions. This entire work 
(especially Chapter 8) offers ideal material 
for all graduate students studying library 
science or a related discipline. While 
some readers may be intimidated by the 
esoteric nature of critical theory, dearth of 
defined terms, and paucity of certain an-
swers to the author’s questions, most will 
be rewarded for their efforts. However, 
familiarity with writers of critical theory 
concerning public spaces and advertis-
ing, and the author’s prior publications is 
strongly recommended.—Anders Selhorst, 
Guilford Technical Community College.